Premise

Synopsis

The gang were driving through the countryside when they started to run low on gas, so they stopped at a gas station. There they met Jonathan Winters, who invites them to come with him to Maude Frickert's farm. Daphne noted what a nice change it was going to be from the haunted houses, gloomy mansions, and spooky characters they had been running into; nobody noticed that a strange scarecrow was watching them drive by. When they arrived on the farm, they witnessed two men on a motorcycle being chased off by Maude's handyman, Vernon Crow.

Vernon mistook the gang for trespassers and told them to get lost, but Jonathan did his impression of Maude to fool him into letting them in the house. Maude told them about a secret chicken feed formula hidden on the farm that could make chickens giant. That explained the two men from earlier and Vernon's initial attempt to send the gang away; apparently, people had been trying to steal the formula. Maude's banker, Simon Shakey, visited the house to discuss a bank loan, but the discussion turned sour and she showed him to the door. Jonathan offers to give Maude the money she needs to start her chicken restaurants, but Maude turns him down, explaining that while she appreciates the offer, she'd rather come up with the money on her own.

The two suspicious men showed up again, and when spotted, fled in different directions. Everyone split up to chase them. Vernon, Jonathan, Shaggy, and Scooby went down by the creek to find the red-haired one, while the rest searched the wheatfield for the other one.

Shaggy, Scooby, and Jonathan arrived at a mill where they thought the red-haired man was hiding. Jonathan came up with the idea to sneak in through the window, but when Shaggy attempted it, he got caught on the waterwheel, which kept dunking him as well as Scooby when he tried to rescue him. After the accident was over, the red-haired man went back to the farm.

Meanwhile, Maude, Fred, Daphne, and Velma were searching the wheatfield for the other suspicious guy. They had split into pairs, with Fred and Maude searching one section of the wheatfield and Daphne and Velma searching another. When Fred asked the girls to confirm their location, Daphne claimed that they were by the scarecrow. This confused Fred and Maude, since the scarecrow was right next to them a minute ago; it had somehow moved. Fred realized that the scarecrow was actually a person in disguise and told Daphne and Velma to grab him. The scarecrow promptly bolted. While the girls were chasing him, he noticed Fred and Maude coming the other way and was forced to flee in a different direction. He ran toward the farmyard and escaped.

Eventually, the two suspicious men are caught and revealed to be completely innocent--they knew nothing about the secret formula and simply wanted to ask Mrs. Frickert if they could rent her farmland to hold a rock festival (something similar to Woodstock), but they never got the chance because Vernon kept chasing them off every time they would try to ask her. The men also reveal that they had nothing to do with the scarecrow in the wheatfield--the brown-haired man reveals that he was already hiding in the haystack when he got frightened by the scarecrow when he jumped into it. With the scarecrow confirmed to still be at large and Vernon now mysteriously missing, Maude lets the men spend the night in her house (telling them that they can discuss the details for the rock festival in the morning) while she and the rest of the gang continue their search for the scarecrow, now suspecting Vernon.

Once the coast was clear, the scarecrow appeared and started digging for the secret formula. Shaggy and Scooby ended up running back to the farmyard after hearing voices in the cornfield (it was only Fred, but they didn't realize this) and discovered the scarecrow digging. They got scared and fled, which lured the rest of the gang back to the farmyard. Unfortunately for them, the scarecrow got away before they arrived.

Shaggy and Scooby continued to attempt to avoid the scarecrow, but their efforts proved fruitless as they kept running into him anyway. Eventually, they along with Jonathan decided to hide in a stable. Worried that the scarecrow may be in there as well, Jonathan decided to do some impressions of police officers to flush him out, so the others could capture him. The scarecrow caught on to the routine and scared them away.

The scarecrow was next seen running into a grain silo. All but Shaggy and Scooby followed him in, who decided to hide in a chicken coop instead. Inside the coop, they discovered samples of the secret chicken feed formula buried underground in a metal box. One of the chickens ate it all and grew so large that it destroyed the coop. The massive chicken proceeded to chase Shaggy and Scooby around the farm.

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang were in the silo, searching for the scarecrow. The scarecrow tried to sneak up on Jonathan but tripped over a hammer and fell into the grain. Jonathan accidentally hit the grain release switch, causing the grain along with the scarecrow to pour out of the silo and land right on top of Shaggy, Scooby, and the giant chicken. The chicken burst out of the grain pile and ran away with Scooby and the scarecrow involuntarily riding it. Maude tried to stop the chicken by grabbing one of its tail feathers, but it just dragged her around until the feather broke off. The gang got in the Mystery Machine and followed the giant chicken until it eventually shrank back to normal size due to the formula wearing off. They headed off the scarecrow at a railroad crossing and captured him.

Maude proceeded to scold "Vernon" since not only did he try to steal the formula, he left the chicken coop open. However, the scarecrow replied "Vernon? How dare you mistake me for Vernon!" It turned out the scarecrow was really Simon Shakey, Maude's banker. He wanted to steal the formula and so he could start his own line of chicken restaurants. The sheriff arrived along with Vernon, and Simon was arrested. The sun rose, but the roosters didn't crow, so Scooby decided to crow himself.

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Quotes

(Shaggy flips one of Jonathan's quarters to decide who goes into the mill, but it doesn't come back down)Shaggy: I think I flipped it pretty high.Jonathan: I think I see it. Going into orbit around the moon. Look, fella. You owe me a quarter.

Shaggy: Zoinks! Oh, what hit me?Fred: Only about twenty tons of grain.Shaggy: Where's the giant chicken?Daphne: Giant chicken?Jonathan: Whew, I think the grain sprained his brain.Daphne: Look, someone else is coming out!
(The giant chicken bursts out of the grain)Jonathan: That chicken is almost as big as this chicken. Bye!

Maude: Well, snap my garters. It's the banker, Simon Shakey. Now why did you go and cause all this to do, Simon?Simon: To prevent you from opening your chicken stands, Maude! I was going to find the secret formula and open my own chicken stands! But those dern kids came along and threw a monkey wrench into my plans!